FlyerTalk Forums - weekend in SIN

My purpose was having an adventure and getting miles was a great excuse.

Thursday I departed from IAD-ATL in F and had a fascinating chat with a senior Microsoft executive. He showed me pictures of his world travels on his laptop and made me decide then and there to get a digital camera in Singapore. I flew IAD-ATL on a cheapie webfare and upgraded with a 500 mile cert. Interestingly this is a bit over 500 miles but within range so it doesn't count as 2 certs as does IAD-ORD.

I hung out in Hartsfield and explored all the terminals as I had a lot of time. As the RCC is not staffed, I approached a gate agent and she ticketed my ATL-IAD-LAX and did not collect the systemwide upgrade cert.

The skies were cloudy with small thunderheads here and there as we boarded around 5:30 for the (normally) short flight back to IAD. I was in F, dozing through a long planeride taking almost 2.5 hours because the pilot had to keep dodging thunderheads and reroute so as to go north of Dulles and then backtrack.

I had counted on several hours in IAD but in reality I had time to walk to the gate and everyone had already boarded for LAX. I sat in my F seat and they closed the door. That flight was fine, a 757 with a few people playing "musical chairs" in order to sit next to their companions. I ended up with the only vacant seat next to me in the cabin.

At LAX I went to Avis and they had assigned me a Grand Am. I asked for something better and they gave me a nice Buick Regal. On the way to where I was going, I stopped off at Fatburger and had a Double King Chili Cheese (eaten with a knife and fork, tossed the buns). Fabulous and interesting at 1:00 in the morning.

The next day I got to LAX around 10:00 and had a snafu. I had converted my "LAX-SIN" into segments -- they are in reality LAX-NRT-SIN, in order to get an upgrade of one segment without having to have the entire route clear. The agent had been very nice but had made a mistake as to dates...the NRT-SIN trip was for a day earlier than I was set to arrive at NRT. She had messed up but I had not caught the mistake.

At this point, she asked me about my upgrade and I told her they hadn't collected the SWU so she collected it.

But, my upgrade that had "cleared" for NRT-SIN had in fact not cleared. Oh well.

The flight across to NRT was excellent, with good service from UA FAs. They refilled water glasses (except when I had to go to the galley to fill my own) and the meal service was fine.

Around the middle of the flight, with no warning the captain announced that we would run into some turbulence and asked the FAs to be seated for about 20 minutes. In about 5 minutes the plane started shaking. It was really interesting seeing how the wing flexed and the jets bobbed up and down. A few people were visibly nervous and one woman looked like she was losing her meal, although it really wasn't what you would categorize as very serious turbulence.

Near NRT, we had to circle for about 30 minutes before making our final approach.

They make you go through a quick metal detector security checkpoint when you connect in NRT, which was painless. At the RCC they said I would definitely not upgrade to SIN and they offered me an E+/middle seat blocked.

That ended up being a window seat and I had a very interesting seating companion there too. But I had to keep getting up to go to the restroom and waking her up, which was awkward. The seat did not have an abundance of room either, but I lived through the 7 hour segment in coach. There was a hot "towel" service (paper but nice anyway) and printed menus even in coach.

Arrival in Singapore
SIN was very easy. I cabbed in and spent about $15 because it was after midnight. I checked into the Le Meridien and had another problem. I had booked through the planetholiday.com "travel agent" and needed to stay an extra night but this turned out to be a minor mess (as I will explain.)

The room was nice and I dropped my stuff there and went back to the lobby which is on the 3rd floor. You change elevators and below is a shopping floor and a food court of stall food. I loved the stall food and had Pig Organ Soup from one stall (that was the name of the stall and the featured food) and roast duck at another. Lots of people around even this late on Sunday morning (2:00am).

A day in SIN City
The next morning I met Miletex and we explored Singapore. We went to the bird sanctuary which is incredible. They seem to be very nice to the birds and it is very well maintained. We watched the bird show, explored, and took the monorail around.

Then we went across the street to the reptile/crocodile park for the opposite experience. This place is pathetic, very sad. Someone needs to buy it and turn it around, it is very sad how decrepit it is. We watched a croc show with three sad-looking workers in a pool with two desultory crocodiles and 15 people watching. One woman volunteered to enter the pool and her daughter (perhaps 5 or so) got very, very upset. Some of the other reptiles looked stuffed or fake or whatever.

We had a marvelous Paranakan meal at Blue Ginger, which is written up in this month's Hemisphere's Magazine. Paranakan food uses similar ingredients as Thai food but is entirely different and really marvelous. It is a 500 year old cuisine.

At this point, it was time for the subway. As many of you know, there is nothing filthier or slower or more unsafe than the Singapore subway http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Actually, it was great. Aside from the sign that had a picture of a durian with a slash through it and "No Durians" in case you don't get the message...

Dinner was at a great Chinese restaurant. I had a dessert garnished with durians. I like durians, I decided. Obviously they didn't transport them in the subway.

In between I did some shopping on Orchard Street. I bought a digital camera and the manager and salesperson had a very bad time of it -- I practically bankrupted them, apparently, with my negotiating http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

All day Sunday Orchard was packed with people as they love shopping in Singapore. The deals are very good though and I bought a few things for the family.

Le Meridien was all worked up at this point about the travel agent and the fact that I was there an extra day. I already guaranteed my extra stay (and more so) with an imprint of my Amex that I came to the desk to do (besides the one I gave them when I checked in.) But the situation was mushrooming.

Leaving Singapore with a short detour back to the hotel
The next morning, at 4:30am, I checked out and they got me a cab. I picked up Miletex and we were supposedly on the way to the airport when the cab driver brought me back to the Le Meridien. Four people charged out the door with alarmed looks on their faces. They said I had to pay cash for the extra night. There was nothing wrong with my credit card (they had authorized more than enough) but this was what the travel agent --at 5:00am -- was demanding. I had no choice so I went into the lobby and paid with US$. They gave me a receipt and change and we went on to Changi.

Changi was organized and easy. We had tons of time and with Miletex leading the way we ended up making visits to the "generic" lounge (SATS, is that the name), the "generic" F lounge (a little less crowded, a little more food but not much to speak of), and the new BA business class lounge (no Internet, beautiful facilities, an artificial brook running through it, the promise of good food although it was a little early.) We would have visited the Thai Airways lounge but it opened a bit late and by this time it was getting time to board.

Thanks to Miletex we got excellent seats in the lower deck exit row in C. The flight was terrific and when we approached NRT we circled for about 20 minutes due to air traffic. I was upgraded for the return to SFO and sat in row 15 with unlimited legroom in the upper deck. That flight was also smooth and easy with good service all the way.

In SFO, I cleared customs with no problems. I had declared the camera and it was over the limit but they waved me through without paying duties. A friend picked me up and we ate at the Sizzler for a good paleo lunch, then he took me back. On the flight to IAD I sat in coach and had one of the most atrocious meals I've eaten on a plane, a pressed-beef burger lunch. The FAs were very nice and came around for repeated beverage services and it was a great flight.

Can't wait to do it again.

[This message has been edited by richard (edited 04-28-2002).]